"There is no reason to continue border clash" with Cambodia: Thai FM

Feb 14, 2011
(Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS-- "There is no reason to continue the border clash" with Cambodia, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya told reporters here on Monday, reiterating "the genuine desire of Thailand to see more development and prosperity in Cambodia."

The Thai foreign minister made the statement shortly after the UN Security Council called on Thailand and Cambodia to observe " permanent ceasefire" on their border in the wake of the deadly clash that took place last week. The Council held a meeting on Monday on the situation.

"There is no reason why there should be the continuation of the conflict (with Cambodia) in the sense that we have all of the bilateral mechanisms to do the border negotiations to look at the border security through our respective defense ministers under the general border committee," the minister said.

Thailand and Cambodia are both members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the geopolitical and economic group in the region. Following the Monday meeting, the Security Council said that it will support ASEAN's efforts to help ameliorate tensions between Cambodia and Thailand over the border.

"There is so much at stake and at the same time there are so many commonalities and a common future between the two countries both bilaterally and also within the ASEAN context in the sense that we both have to build the ASEAN community by the year 2015," Piromya said.

The Thai minister added that his country will keep ASEAN apprised of bilateral negotiations on the topic of the border. He also stated that his country will continue to send development aid to Cambodia despite the recent conflict.

"They are our closest neighbor, we have been rendering development assistance and we will continue to do so," he said.

Earlier on Monday, the UN Security Council called on both Cambodia and Thailand to display maximum restraint, avoid any action that may aggravate the situation, and establish a permanent ceasefire.

Also on Monday, Marty Natalegawa, the chairman of ASEAN and Indonesian foreign minister, told reporters here that the Thai- Cambodian border clashes need to be resolved peacefully, through dialogue and negotiations.

Earlier this month, both Cambodia and Thailand have written to the 15-nation Security Council on the border conflict. The Cambodian-Thai border dispute was also brought before the Security Council after similar clashes in October 2008.

The border between Thailand and Cambodia has never been fully demarcated. From Feb. 4 to Feb. 7, clashes over the border killed at least eight people and injured 67, in addition to driving tens of thousands of villagers from their homes, reports said.

Although the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Temple of Preah Vihear belonged to Cambodia, the row over the 4.6-sq-km territory around the temple has never been resolved.

The conflict occurred just a week after Cambodia's Temple of Preah Vihear was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008. Since then both sides have built up military forces along the border, and periodic clashes have occurred, resulting in the deaths of troops on both sides.

Editor: Mu Xuequan